Friday, 27 January 2017

We had quite a long drive to make it to Hanoi by the evening but we made good progress and thanks to quite empty roads in parts it was easy to drive fast.

A detour however added an extra hour to our journey and Google maps again decided the best way into Hanoi is to go through every single small village and narrow road instead of staying on the main roads.

The detour also meant we couldn't really enjoy the great scenery around Ninh Binh as much as we would have likes as it got late.

Still, we made it to Hanoi by dinner time and after dinner and some beers we were taking it easy and enjoying the new year celebrations here.

New Year is certainly a different celebration here than it is in Europe but it's very interesting.

So let me wish all Vietnamese friends a 'Happy New Year 2017!' or 'Chuc mung nam moi!'.

Thursday, 26 January 2017

We planned a longer journey today, a loop around Phong Nha and the botanical garden area, then back to the HCM road and all the way to Vinh or Cua Lo.

As soon as we go to the botanical garden it started raining but it didn't last too long and stopped when we finished the loop.

The loop around the botanical gardens, to the paradise cave is great in terms of scenery and driving and definitely worth doing.

There were a lot of tourists on rented or bought bikes on this roads so it's definitely more touristy than the rest of the HCM road going north.

I've been on these roads a few times but it was always in the opposite direction on my way back to Hue. There were quite a few changes, including more petrol stations (a welcome change).

We actually made good progress at first and were almost at our destination when Google Maps decided to take us on a roundabout excursion through small villages, even smaller roads and on to roads under construction for the final few km to Cua Lo.

This meant we arrived after dark in Cua Lo and while we expected the city to be quiet, we didn't anticipate it would be that quiet without anything to do, with most hotels closed, not many restaurants or even coffee shops open.